(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) New York Times columnist David Brooks reiterated that he never interacted with Jeffrey Epstein after House Democrats released photos from the Epstein estate showing Brooks at an event attended by the late sex offender.
Brooks has faced heavy social media scrutiny over what critics suggest could be previously undisclosed ties to Epstein, particularly after he wrote a column criticizing public interest in the release of the Epstein files.
The photos were reportedly taken in 2011 at a dinner tied to that year’s TED Conference. The images show Brooks in a selfie and another separate photo of Epstein. The two men did not appear in any of the released images.
The columnist defended himself Friday on PBS NewsHour, where he had previously discussed the Epstein files, insisting he never met Epstein despite the photos.
“As far as I know, I did not ever meet him,” Brooks claimed, noting that there were several other people at the dinner. “I never exchanged a word with him. We must have been at different tables. In my life — I went through all my email files — I have never exchanged a word. I have never had any contact with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Brooks also noted that the House Democrats’ photos do not show him with Epstein. “There’s one of me alone — because nobody wants to talk to me at a party— and another with me chatting with Sergey Brin, one of the Google co-founders,” he said.
Brooks’s on-air defense came a day after he told news outlet Semafor that he had no idea who Epstein was in 2011 and only became aware of him in 2018, the year the Miami Herald re-examined Epstein’s controversial 2008 plea deal with the DOJ.
The deal, known as a non-prosecution agreement, allowed Epstein to avoid federal sex trafficking charges by pleading guilty to prostitution-related offenses.
“I never heard of Epstein until i [sic] read a Miami Herald story about him in 2018. I’ve never had any contact with him by email or any other means,” Brooks said Thursday.
A month ago, NYT columnist David Brooks wrote a column decrying the media and political fixation on the Epstein story.
This afternoon, House Democrats released a new tranche of photos of an event that Brooks attended with Epstein. pic.twitter.com/NWY8oRVFWX
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) December 18, 2025
